Apostolates at Current Clinics

In response to our email "interview" question, the following response was given by Kat, a longtime "sidewalk counselor" in the northern Virginia area.  Her experiences are very intense, dealing face-to-face with a busy clinic in a very large urban area:

   In the middle of a busy city, like many cities, there lies a building, tall and plain. It is surrounded by other buildings, just like any other city. Its purpose is not in supplying housing, clothing, or food, but to provide “reproductive healthcare” to women. This is Planned Parenthood.

          Like the “reproductive healthcare” clinics in so many cities, this particular clinic also offers abortions. With orange vested escorts patrolling the path to the clinic, women seeking an abortion or other services are quickly ushered into its doors. The escort will strike up small talk: “How’s the weather?” or “That’s a great shirt you’re wearing!” They were simply passing the time between when the woman first comes under their “protection” until the moment she walks through the front door. Such escorts never stop to ask, “What is your situation?” or “What are your needs?” “Are you familiar with the risks and side effects of these services?” is undoubtedly never asked, for who wants to scare away a client, a source of income? Yet, outside the clinic, there are those who seek to ask personal questions, to get to the root of the woman’s problem and help her. These are sidewalk counselors.

            Often, women coming to the clinic are unfamiliar with the options open to them. Some have no idea of the numerous, documented effects of abortion and birth control, let alone heard of a pregnancy center, or even seen an image of the person developing in utero. Through the guidance of a sidewalk counselor, some women realize that it is the assistance of a pregnancy center that they desire, not Planned Parenthood. The sidewalk counselor provides the woman with literature about abortion, birth control, and services provided by the clinic. She receives the contact information of nearby pregnancy centers, and even the offer of a ride to the center, if necessary. There is no material gain for the counselor; just the happiness of having helped a woman in need.

            Clinic escorts, on the other hand, lack a supportive characteristic. They appear friendly and semi-understanding on the surface, urging the woman to ignore the counselors and just enter the clinic, but the moment they realize that the woman is interested in what the counselor has to say, they back off. They’ve lost a customer. They see dollar signs or a goal, not individuals with particular needs. In one situation, escorts turned away from a woman after she was clearly interested in a pregnancy center instead of Planned Parenthood. Due to her situation, she began to cry, yet the escorts completely ignored her. It was the sidewalk counselors who provided her with the comfort and support necessary. At the end of the day, Planned Parenthood may have the money, and the advertisements, and the widely spread image, but they are a business. It is individuals, such as sidewalk counselors, who see each woman as unique. It is the individuals who can make a difference.